Sunday, September 14, 2008

401(k) Squared "Fish Bowl"

401(k) Squared, a small company that specializes full-time in 401k plan development, asked them to get a big bang out of their modest direct mail budget. On the whole, the marketing done by companies in the financial services industry is safe, corporate and forgettable. They went in the opposite direction — developing a direct mail piece that featured a live fish inside a box adorned with messaging. The concept? "If someone's not watching over your 401(k), it won't thrive either." Considering their precious, live cargo – and their need to get it in front of the CFO's, CEO's and owners of their target companies – all pieces were delivered via courier. Additionally, this allowed them to avoid the gatekeeper who could have reacted in any number of ways. Within weeks, 401(k) Squared had secured a $10M account and was in discussions with a number of large companies to manage their 401(k) accounts, ranging in size from $500k to $20M. Always nice setting the fish on the hook.